Blog: Stowe Patrol

I launched Stowe Patrol in late 2008 after leaving Spruce Peak at Stowe Mountain Resort as its Real-Estate Marketing Manager. Stowe Patrol's mission was, and still is, to blog about everything Stowe from 3 different perspectives: first, and as the name suggests, my eleven years as a ski patroller at the Resort; second, as a local-area resident; and, third, as a Stowe-based Realtor®. I'd be glad to have you as a reader and visitor, and I welcome your comments.

Color is kind of tough, if we're being honest. Or more accurately, a lot can go wrong when attempting to use color in your home, even with the best of intentions. Here are 10 of the most common color mistakes at home — and how you can fix them.

1. Not considering light

Without light, color wouldn't be much to look at. And as much as the right light can make a color sing...it can also make a gray go lavender or a white look dingy. Before painting a wall, use a sample painted or taped up to view your potential new color in all light of the day — as well as artificial light. If a color you thought would work doesn't, take it back to the paint store and explain to someone working there which type of light made the color go wrong — someone with the right experience should be able to point you in the right direction.

2. Mixing too many colors at once in the wrong balances

There's no official limit of how many colors are allowed in one room. But the saying "the more the merrier" doesn't always apply when it comes to color. Want to know whether or not you have too much color mixing in one room? The room will feel the opposite of peaceful — sometimes it even feels like it's closing in. You can eliminate colors until you start feeling balance. Or you can pay attention to the amount of each color you use (aim for one or two primary colors and a handful of secondary, accent colors), as well as where the colors are located (spread around evenly to carry your eye through a room).

3. Being too matchy-matchy with your color palette

Opposite of the problem above is not having enough of a variety. The point of having a color palette is of course to create a visual story — to present a style in an understandable array of hues. But only stick to two or three colors in a room (or the whole home) and it could start feeling repetitive, predicable and without any real soul. The way to fix it? Add in a handful of elements spread around the home that have nothing to do with your color palette at all. They'll infuse the space with more life and interest.

Click here to read the complete article, by Adrienne Breaux at Apartment Therapy.

Adrienne Breaux

House Tour Editor • New Orleans, LAAdrienne loves architecture, design, cats, science fiction and watching Star Trek. In the past 10 years she's called home: a van, a former downtown store in small town Texas and a studio apartment rumored to have once been owned by Willie Nelson.